Tis the season to be thankful. Thursday 28th November is Thanksgiving Day in North America. Whilst we do not celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia, preferring to save our turkey for the Christmas table, I thought I would share with you some interesting trivia which caught my eye about the Thanksgiving turkey on the LiveScience website.
According to the National Turkey Federation 88 percent of Americans celebrate with a large roasted turkey as the centrepiece of their meal. It is estimated that some 46 million turkeys will be eaten at Thanksgiving, weighing an average of 11 pounds or 7 kilograms each. The ratio of white to dark meat in the average bird is 70:30. Nutritionists have long advocated choosing white meat over dark as it contains less fat and calories, but dark meat still has less fat than most cuts of red meat. Given that Thanksgiving, like Christmas, is all about feasting and coming together with loved ones around a groaning dining table, in my books we can all throw caution to the wind and be excused from even thinking about our diets and waistlines on the day.
Turkey has always been on our family table at Christmas time. Last year for the very first time I brined my turkey in apple cider before filling with a caramelised onion, apple and sage stuffing and roasting in a hot oven. The result was an incredibly moist and tender turkey with a crispy skin. So amazing and well received there will be an encore performance again this year.
For those who are curious and perhaps wanting to give brining a go, the recipes for the brining, stuffing and roasting of the turkey can be found in the following posts.
Talking Turkey. With Apple Cider and Spice. Brining Tonight. Roasting Tomorrow.
From Our Family Table. Christmas Turkey. Brined, Roasted and Stuffed.
From our family table we wish all our American friends a wonderful and delicious Thanksgiving.
The Paddington Foodie 
Beautiful post. But honestly, can you tell the difference with brining a turkey? I used to do it, but then I started getting free range organic turkeys from Lobel’s and they’re so amazing on they’re own, I quit brining. Just wondering what you thought, although obviously you brined this one!
Brining is definitely a novelty for me. Last year I used a free range turkey and was amazed at how plump and moist it became after brining. The clincher for me was that I didn’t have to worry about overcooking the bird and potentially ending up with dry, unpalatable breast meat. I gathered together a crowd of taste testers who had never tasted a brined turkey and they all absolutely loved it. By request I’m brining a turkey again this year for a casual pre Christmas get together and picnic. We’ll see what happens this time around.. And before I forget Happy Thanksgiving Mimi.